ECT External Content Type (using Infopath External Item Picker) with List

Question

I would like to create a list with some External Data fields (and other fields) and customize it in Infopath, but it's not working.. InfoPath says:

The following fields in the SharepPoint list are not supported because of their data type and will not be available in InfoPath Designer:

-field_1 (BusinessData)

-field_2 (BusinessData)

Is it possible to use an External Content Type (WCF Service) with a list in Infopath? I mean, use an External Item Picker in a Infopath form that connects to a list. Or is it only possible with a Form Library?

Any ideas on how to solve this or a suggestion to another approach?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

It is possible to create the scenario you're referring to... if I understand you correctly, you want to use the External Item Picker to create a pick list within an external list against another list.

You would have to associate the two external lists (ECTs) within your BCS model. This association must be a foreign key based association. That done, SharePoint will automatically create an External Item Picker in the default list form.

I'm currently doing the same thing and it works for me in Sharepoint. However, when I modify the form in Infopath, I start to get errors whenever I select an item in the External Item Picker. As long as I don't use InfoPath to modify the form, it works fine in SharePoint.

I hope this answers your question.

Cheers!